Oldham ready for dual-reg boost

JON FORD: first appearance of the season

WITH the injury backlog slowly clearing at Huddersfield Giants, Oldham RL coach Scott Naylor is set for a dual-registration boost for the busy Easter programme.

The Roughyeds prepare for two Championship games in four days. Halifax are the visitors to Bower Fold on Good Friday, followed by a trip to Sale RUFC to face Swinton on Monday.

Fixtures in such a short time frame put a huge strain on bodies, and Naylor has said the team that starts against Fax won’t be the same one that takes on Lions.

He had one eye on the holiday double-header by giving club skipper Lewis Palfrey and Will Hope the weekend off against Kells in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

The fourth round tie saw Jon Ford - his first appearance of the season — and stand-off Steve Roper play the full 80 minutes.

Joe Burke was cup-tied but is now available, while Oldham are keeping their fingers crossed that Danny Langtree and Danny Grimshaw recover from injuries against the amateurs.

Naylor said: “It was nice to get lads out there, Steve Roper and Fordy, people like that, to play 80 minutes.

“You could obviously see their timing was a bit out and some skill levels, but they got some rugby under their belts, which was important. We need to use all the players we can on Friday and Monday, with the games so close together.”

With Giants nursing an horrendous catalogue of injuries in the early part of the season, Oldham have so far been unable to use the dual-reg link between the two clubs.

Naylor is now confident of a bigger pool of players to choose from: “We will have players available to us at the weekend. They are getting some players back, and from now on it gives me more options.

“It’s only six days from the Monday game to playing again at home to Batley, and we would probably need to use a few more players in that game as well. It’s a tough ask, but that’s what dual-reg is for.”

OLDHAM will discover their fifth-round, Ladbrokes Challenge Cup opponents this evening.